Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC Sells 43,687 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 27.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 116,353 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 43,687 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 6.0% of Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total transaction of $3,347,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,310,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $343,710,216.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.50, for a total transaction of $74,750.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,254.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total transaction of $3,347,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,310,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $343,710,216.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 158,958 shares of company stock valued at $25,805,853 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $1.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $178.40. 8,422,448 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,260,883. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.83 and a twelve month high of $182.08. The company has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.